To receive a high school diploma from the state of Texas,  you must:
   Complete all necessary coursework for graduation.
   Pass all parts of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Test.

The exit level TAKS test includes four subject areas: language arts, math, science and social studies.
You will take the exit level TAKS in the spring of your junior year. If you pass all parts of the test on your first try, you will have fulfilled your testing requirements for graduation. However, if you do not pass one or more subject-area tests, you will have several opportunities to retake the parts of those tests you still need to pass.
Students entering school as 9th graders in 2011-2012 and on will be required to pass the EOC tests (End of Course) in order to graduate.

House bill 3 defines college readiness as the level of preparation a student must attain in English language arts and mathematics courses to enroll and succeed, without remediation, in an entry-level general education course for credit in that same content area for a baccalaureate degree or associate degree program.

At the high school level, there are twelve End-of-Course (EOC) assessments in the four foundation content areas
      Mathematics
      Science
      Social studies
      English

These will replace the current high school TAKS tests but only for the freshman class of 2011-2012. The sophomores, juniors and seniors will continue to be assessed using the TAKS assessment program.

To receive a high school diploma from the state of Texas, you must:
      Complete all necessary coursework for graduation.

      Your average of the End of Course (EOC) exams in each core subject area must meet the minimum requirement.

      Student's score on the assessment must be worth 15% of student's final grade for that course.

      In addition to meeting cumulative score requirement in each of four core content areas, students on the  Distinguished Achievement Program (DAP) have to perform satisfactorily on the college-readiness component of:
            Algebra II assessment
            English III assessment